Curse

Fat Emo Kid · Jul 06, 2007, 07:19 AM // 07:19

After playing Guild Wars since it's release in April of 2005, my overall view of the game is disappointing. There are many things that contribute to this view. The two major points I will bring up are: 1. Lack of dedication to the "guild" aspect of this game, even though the name is Guild Wars, yet we have very little for our "guild", and 2. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but this game is based off of PvP, and is designed to be a PvP game, unlike World of Warcraft.

I'm going to begin with the problems in Heroes' Ascent. The purpose of this style of PvP is to win. You progress through the maps until you eventually reach the Hall of Heroes, win, and attempt to continually win for your country. You also receive fame, which leads to rank. There's no need for an in depth explanation of this, because the majority of players who pertain to this rant / rage already know what I'm talking about. The metagame has shifted and the style with it, from 8-man and the original PvP at the Tomb of the Primeval Kings with the oh-so-wonderful Rifts, to the dawn of Heroes' Ascent and 6-man PvP, then back to 8-man PvP. The metagame during this time has shifted as each expansion appears, from the original gameplay where there was truely no build and Koreans wielding Aegis dominated the gameplay and Scarred Earth was the hated map, to Ranger Spike, Blood Spike, IWAY, and every other build that was despised and played by someone.

The current metagame, as I describe today, is Ritualist Spike, the "newer", as I'll refer to it, IWAY, and, the ever dreaded heroes. This is what I, as a consistent HA player, have seen. There are quite a few more groups, but these are the ones that are most commonly seen in HA, whether winning or not.

When Nightfall was released, heroes were heralded as a great addition, and I agree with that. They're very convienent and useful. But when brought into HA, given skills that NPCs can use in a much more efficient manor than any player may, and players playing builds that do heavy pressure, you get heroway, or an extremely annoying group with pressure that is used to farm fame.

The whole point of this portion of my rant is boiled down to: PvP, more specifically Heroes' Ascent, has become fame farm.

About 75% of groups that will enter this area of PvP are designed to farm fame to reach a certain rank. Upon reaching this rank, players will head into builds that a lot of players don't like, mostly some form of spike.

You will never be able to make everyone in the game happy, that's very true. But looking at the game now, the majority of great players who used to be well known have quit. The reason? The game has become boring. Without even going into further detail, so many skills in this game are overpowered and people are exploiting them to gain fame and the worthless items from the Hall of Heroes chest, which still are terrible, even with the update, and they are consistent winners. Why? They exploit overpowered skills, repeatedly.

To name a few:

Wielder's Strike ~ 126 damage with a weapon spell
Ancestor's Rage ~ 137 damage
Spirit Rift ~ 142 damage

Notice that these skills are from Ritualist Spike. Now, with 7 or 8 spikes each using one of these skills, your totals are:

Wielder's Strike ~ 1,008 damage
Ancestor's Rage ~ 1,016 damage
Spirit Rift ~ 1,136 damage

The average player will have around 580 - 670 HP with a morale boost. That leaves 300 - 400 damage extra done by the spike. Even interrupting a character, which is common with Psychic Distraction, which is slightly underpowered as it is, and using a shield, the spike is still too powerful to catch. Most players will understand how to use Spirit Bond before the spike, but this will be removed, resulting in the non-spike team raging because their player didn't understand their enchantment just got removed and they failed to reuse it in time, or the removal was too perfect.

So, you can choose to run a build heavy on shutdown and interrupts.

But, wait! You still have to remember you will be fighting IWAY. What's so bad about IWAY?

7 to 8 targets with 80 AR. Is that so bad? Yes. I also forgot to include that there are 5 classes in this build that run a consistent -4 energy shout that is nearly impossible to shutdown entirely.

That reduces so much damage, you can't get a clean spike through unless it's overpowered, even Ritualist Spike cannot perfectly land it on a target. The AR is too high for that. So, we're getting the damage. Even though we're going through 4-5 health regeneration, we're getting them down. WAIT. You have 2 classes that have 80 AR, use Infuse Health, and use my favorite overpowered skill..

Signet of Synergy!

What's so bad with this skill? It has a 1 second cast time, is a signet, which requires no energy, has a 10 second recharge, which is quick for such a powerful heal such as this, and heals both the user and target if you are unenchanted, and in a build that runs 0 enchantments, it always works. Having 14 Motivation, this is a 96 heal to 2 targets on a consistent 10 second basis. Combine this with Infuse Health, which is a 400+ HP heal and other shouts that regenerate energy plus give a heavy party heal bonus, you have a build that is tough to beat.

What else is bad? I've shutdown these two builds, but wait! There's more!

Heroway. You'd expect that "oh, it's just heroes, i can pwnz0r these nubs easy w/mah aoe". Wrong.

3 RaO Rangers that constantly KD and train, also bringing Dazed and Deep Wound, combined with Tainted Flesh, the addition of either a Fire Elementalist or a trapper, and 3 classes that spam offensive and defensive skills (Essence Strike, Toxic Chill, Mend Body and Soul, etc.), you have a nasty build that contains 3 classes that train targets, 3 classes that have Soul Reaping and other forms of energy management, and 1 to 2 high pressure or healing classes (Monk and Elementalist is common).

These 3 builds are what cause so many problems. Out of these builds, 1 of the 3 will be encountered in a single run through Heroes' Ascent.

As this is just getting repetitive and there's no point explaining this further to prevent those who run this raging at me, I'll move on to another huge problem I have with this game.

So, 2 years ago, I purchased a game called Guild Wars. I expected it would be groups of people battling for territory, etc., when I talked about it with friends before it was released. I got it, and what I got seemed to be good. You have 8v8 battles between guilds and there are championships. Sounds good, except I couldn't and still can't participate in these, plus they are becoming less and less popular. These championships were amazing as the guilds who were in them were the top players and were great to watch. Still, all we get in a game with the word "guild" in the name is 8v8 and the formation of such guilds. This seems to be a little lacking..

Thus Factions came out and brought town ownership. But, there's a catch. You have to either grind quests or try to play in Alliance Battles with players who don't understand basic PvP concepts and the gameplay is almost based on what time you play at for each side to have it's "better", if they can be called that, players log on and decide to participate.

So, there's very little we can do with our guilds. Nightfall comes out, and still not much, except the addition of NPCs in our Guild Hall. Alliances almost have no point except making a gamble that these people that your guild members might know may be talented in some form for your group and that you can farm with them.

For the PvP player, almost everything in this game that's for a guild is useless. It's pointless, redundant, and a waste of my time.

Why do I play this game? I simply have nothing better to do and there are very interesting people that play, I have a lot of friends. I'm expecting a lot from Guild Wars 2, so there's some preparation for it, but unless ArenaNet would like to continue to lose some of the top players with experience and let the game succomb to people who farm fame, exploit builds, and complain while creating arguement in International District 1 of Heroes' Ascent that "i need fame to get rank, wah, i cant get fame so i cant get rank, wah", this game will not improve and Guild Wars 2 will fail unless it's PvE based.

A few things that I believe will make this game more enjoyable:

Fix skills ~ So many skills in this game have either been overnerfed by your developers (I've played Izzy, he loves his Steady Stance.. wow), and find the balance between the overnerf and the "why did you guys do this?" nerf, make the skills less powerful, but still useful. You've been doing this for over 2 years, you should've found the balance by now or hired new developers who understand what they need to change to make the game better.
Implement districts for those who have certain ranks. I'm Rank 10, I want to play with people who have at least Rank 9, make a district that requires Rank 9 to enter. Make districts that have no requirement, Rank 3 as a requirement, etc., so players can play with those of their rank and skill level, then keep the original International Districts. Skill can come with experience, I can say this for myself, and just being an overall competent player will help anyone improve. Those who can play at the level that will allow them to win will shine above the rest and continue to move up.
Give us more for our guilds. The best I've got is "i'm going to my gh to sit with my guildies and do nothing". Make games, events, dungeons, monsters, pet tournaments, anything. You guys have the capability, so do it. I'm not going to grind my way through the game to get the oodles of gold for nice items every second that I'm playing.
Weigh guild battles, the Hall of Heroes, and other events more heavily. If someone wins the Hall of Heroes, give them more than a few crappy items that are never good (Flame of Balthazar? what the hell? I don't need 1,000 faction, sorry), make winning consecutive guild battles or beating a good guild give a Champion point or a reward.
Allow faction to be transferable. I've unlocked everything and so have many other players. Rather than buying hundreds of tournament tokens, I'd like to give this to people who actually may need it.
I applaud the automatic tournaments, they're a great idea, but keep improving them. I'd rather get +15 for a win in a tournament than +2 for a normal guild versus guild battle win. Balance this out so I don't just want to do a tournament and I want to do normal battles too.
The weekly events you do are decent, but the ArenaNet team needs to do more and be with the community more. I play this game so much because I have nothing better to do and soon I will find something, but I'd like to be able to talk to someone from the staff or just see they're alive, I've seen 1-2 people from the staff, namely Gaile Gray and Izzy, as Gaile gives the frog report, and I have no clue why Izzy even plays because the skill changes he makes aren't good to begin with, which stems a lot of hilarious guild names about him.

This, by no means, is meant to be arrogant, or in any way degrading, although it may sound that way. These are my beliefs and opinions on the game, whether they are good or bad by whatever you may think, most of these are the truth, whether I may have streched them unintentionally or not. This is not intended to buffer myself as a player, but to hopefully give ArenaNet some insight into their game to make it better so more players will play it and hopefully it will return to how it was in the past, which was a much more enjoyable game.

NOTE: It is early in the morning and I'm tired. If something in here isn't accurate, I'm probably too tired to realize.
NOTE: I may add more to this, I'm hoping to hear from others on their views or if I missed anything that would pertain to my rant. It may expand or contract in time.

Thus ends this rant / rage / whatever you want to call it. Now, begin the reading, picking and poking at, laughing at me, raging, and whatever else this post will bring.

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Edit (1) (6/6/07) 3:21 AM: I didn't like the post icon, so I changed it. ^_^
Edit (2) (6/6/07) 4:24 PM: Fixed the attribute on Signet of Synergy, it was 3 AM. -_-

You just got tomahawked · Jul 06, 2007, 07:24 AM // 07:24

EMO, HAVE MY BABIES. HOWIE LOVES EMO. FIRST POST BYOTCH!! Y'all should really respect this guy. He is a nice guy and an amazing Guild wars player (rank 10 hero and rank 3 champion). Good Job, this was very thorough and thought out.

cellardweller · Jul 06, 2007, 07:35 AM // 07:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fat Emo Kid

2. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but this game is based off of PvP, and is designed to be a PvP game, unlike World of Warcraft.

http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...php?t=10109355

Fat Emo Kid · Jul 06, 2007, 07:52 AM // 07:52

Quote:

Quote:
Originally Posted by Fat Emo Kid
2. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but this game is based off of PvP, and is designed to be a PvP game, unlike World of Warcraft.

http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...php?t=10109355

Let me elaborate. The core purpose is PvP. They did not sell this game as solely PvE, or it would be a standalone CD-rom game. Comparing with briefly to World of Warcraft, where you don't get into the hardcore PvP until level 70 (previously level 60, I have played it, I got bored around level 15 because I couldn't PvP), which is why you can create PvP ready characters are play.

Tijger · Jul 06, 2007, 07:53 AM // 07:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fat Emo Kid

2. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but this game is based off of PvP, and is designed to be a PvP game, unlike World of Warcraft.[/b]

You are wrong, Jeff Strain has stated on multiple occasions that GW was not designed as a PvP game.

Fat Emo Kid · Jul 06, 2007, 08:00 AM // 08:00

Quote:

You are wrong, Jeff Strain has stated on multiple occasions that GW was not designed as a PvP game.

That just reinforces how retarded ArenaNet is, then, putting this much money into PvP tournaments and championships if it's not a PvP game.

MMSDome · Jul 06, 2007, 08:00 AM // 08:00

I can understand you might be upset at some of the changes that may happen but much of it is quite personal regarding builds people use and other things people do. The way skills are are just to balance game play (well I actually could be wrong there). I do agree with you on tjhe hero's part, though I do not pvp at all I do think they should make it so heros are not aloud in HA and that it has to be either all humans or back to using the henchies, no heros. The game should rely less on heros in the PvP aspect because in all honesty you wont win HA with hero's and that is why you always see the same guilds winning HA; because the competition is weak and only looking to get fame not favor.

Sorry if I did not read your post thoroughly enough to fully understand it but it is nice to have a constructive arguement other then the world is ending with no reason at all, even if I dont agree that the game is dying

Fat Emo Kid · Jul 06, 2007, 08:04 AM // 08:04

Quote:

I can understand you might be upset at some of the changes that may happen but much of it is quite personal regarding builds people use and other things people do. The way skills are are just to balance game play (well I actually could be wrong there). I do agree with you on tjhe hero's part, though I do not pvp at all I do think they should make it so heros are not aloud in HA and that it has to be either all humans or back to using the henchies, no heros. The game should rely less on heros in the PvP aspect because in all honesty you wont win HA with hero's and that is why you always see the same guilds winning HA; because the competition is weak and only looking to get fame not favor.

Well, our views are slightly different, but I like the point you bring up with favor, where it needs to weigh more heavily. It used to be awesome to win and I remember getting a lot of PMs when I won and took favor, but now, you get none, it's just too repetitive.

Quote:

Sorry if I did not read your post thoroughly enough to fully understand it but it is nice to have a constructive arguement other then the world is ending with no reason at all, even if I dont agree that the game is dying

Well, in no way is PvE dying, the market may suck and completely fail in all aspects, but people still play, yes. I'm focusing more on PvP and how it's slowly getting worse, more repetitive, and less interesting and that I do PvE to kill time now, rather than all types of PvP.

Tijger · Jul 06, 2007, 08:13 AM // 08:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fat Emo Kid

That just reinforces how retarded ArenaNet is, then, putting this much money into PvP tournaments and championships if it's not a PvP game.

You are entitled to your opinion, ofcourse, however that doesnt change the fact that the basic premisse of your post is false and therefore your whole argument is based on a faulty assumption.

As for retarded, well, any company that can produce a game that can hold my attention for two years now (with the occasional break) is to be applauded imho, GW is the first game I've ever played for this long and still have found new challenges in.

Fat Emo Kid · Jul 06, 2007, 08:16 AM // 08:16

Quote:

You are entitled to your opinion, ofcourse, however that doesnt change the fact that the basic premisse of your post is false and therefore your whole argument is based on a faulty assumption.

As for retarded, well, any company that can produce a game that can hold my attention for two years now (with the occasional break) is to be applauded imho, GW is the first game I've ever played for this long and still have found new challenges in.

That's not an opinion, that's common sense. If a game is created to be based on PvE, why would you pour so much money into transportation, prizes, and advertising for PvP championships? That's extremely contradictory and the overall purpose of Guild Wars may have changed over the 2 years that it has been created.

Any game that is designed and contains certain elements could grab hundreds of thousands of players attention and keep it, just like what ArenaNet has done. You're saying I have a false arguement, but if you look at the amount of players who PvP, I think that number itself is evidence that supports my arguement. ^_^

Shuuda · Jul 06, 2007, 08:24 AM // 08:24

Lets just leave it at GW was designed for PvE and PvP.

Fat Emo Kid · Jul 06, 2007, 08:30 AM // 08:30

Quote:

Lets just leave it at GW was designed for PvE and PvP.

Well that's obvious, but the arguement here is that PvP needs more than PvE. -_-

stefan_moore · Jul 06, 2007, 10:12 AM // 10:12

you say about how it is impossible to be able to have a build that is able to beat all types of teams in HA these days but i see that as a good thing if there was one team build that was able to win no matter of the oppenent then surley that build would be overpowered.

Nebuchadnezzer · Jul 06, 2007, 10:22 AM // 10:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tijger

You are wrong, Jeff Strain has stated on multiple occasions that GW was not designed as a PvP game.

If you look at the ORIGINAL layout of Prophecies you have to agree that the game was first designed to be more about the pvp then pve. The Ascension missions are based on HA objective maps. Dunes - Altar holding, Thirsty-- Annihilation with priest, Elona -- Relic running, also guess what used to happen right when you finished Ascension? BOOM you warp right next to ToPK back when that was the pvp area. This obviously shows an incentive to get people into PvP. Also, why all the pve arenas? Ascalon, Yaks, LA(way back when), Droks (also way back when). Why would they implement these things in pve areas if not to get people into pvp? Also when you go pre to post, guess what you do? The pvp mission.

I know the game has obviously taken a turn to be more focused on pve now. Which is something I'd rather not happen, but it's not like i can just fake that it isn't.

If guild wars was based on PvE at the start, the main spearhead of their work wouldn't have gone into GvG Championships, PvP style gameplay and balance methods. You wouldn't hold pvp championships for a pve game, would you?

Pandora's box · Jul 06, 2007, 10:24 AM // 10:24

If Anet would honor every whishlist in this forum than they would have to design a completely new game. Well, maybe this is what's going to happen with GW2!

Don't expect much changes in this game anymore. Its obsolete. Get used to it that gameplay will be more and more 'accept it as it is'.

Etta · Jul 06, 2007, 10:32 AM // 10:32

You said it yourself, they can't make everyone happy. If they fixed the game for Joe, Bob wont be happy, fixed it for Bob, Dick wont be happy, and so on. It'll be a never ending circle of fixing this, that, above and below. I don't think they can be arse fixing it anymore than it is, hence GW2 in 2 years.

I'm not defending them or anything, but the game is still fun for me to play. It's not perfect but what is? (mario cart on snes is) Samurai is blunt but his words ring truth and you know it. Put down the mouse and let it go.

Lonesamurai · Jul 06, 2007, 10:34 AM // 10:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fat Emo Kid

Once again, thanks for just being plain ignorant, I'm not going to draw this any further..

EDIT: I actually like Guild Wars, it's just getting boring, sorry for trying to make the game a little better for all of us. ^_^ Didn't read the whole comment.

but your not... your compaining that a game made for casual gamers and competitive pvp'ers doesn't have enough content pve wise for you...

and if it had a monthly fee, you'd be right, but it hasn't, so your wrong

Quote:

Originally Posted by Etta

I'm not defending them or anything, but the game is still fun for me to play. It's not perfect but what is? (mario cart on snes is) Samurai is blunt but his words ring truth and you know it. Put down the mouse and let it go.

thank you... sorry if i am blunt, but i'm trying to become the communities own community rep through my station and ys, i love GW, maybe more than i should, but i have my reasons... and threads saying the game needs to be changed when it actually can't gets me rather steamed

Fat Emo Kid · Jul 06, 2007, 10:34 AM // 10:34

Quote:

If Anet would honor every whishlist in this forum than they would have to design a completely new game. Well, maybe this is what's going to happen with GW2!
Don't expect much changes in this game anymore. Its obsolete. Get used to it that gameplay will be more and more 'accept it as it is'.

This isn't a wishlist, it's a statement of problems in this game. I'm pointing out what's wrong, or at least, in my opinion, what is wrong. I can back up most of my points with facts and material, so there's a strong push that it's a problem they can fix, they just don't since they've already got our money and we won't be paying them much more until GW:EN comes out.

Fat Emo Kid · Jul 06, 2007, 10:38 AM // 10:38

Quote:

but your not... your compaining that a game made for casual gamers and competitive pvp'ers doesn't have enough content pve wise for you...

and if it had a monthly fee, you'd be right, but it hasn't, so your wrong

Alright. Point #1. Where did I mention anything about PvE? Thanks for completely not reading my post. Point #2. This game is meant for hardcore players also, due to the miniscule amount of points gained per GvG in a normal battle and the amount required to reach the top 50 or even the top 100. Point #3. I don't know what you're talking about moneywise, but we've paid our $150-$200 per person. They have our money, they can do whatever they want with us and we can't do anything because we aren't giving them revenue until the next expansion. I don't understand why you're posting, because it's making no sense.

DreamWind · Jul 06, 2007, 10:44 AM // 10:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by cellardweller

http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...php?t=10109355

You know...there is a video of the Guild Wars Factions Championship on the internet where one of the devs says and I quote:

"Guild Wars was designed from the ground up to be a PvP game, and this tournament is the culmination of that."

That isn't exact, but its very close to exact. For those interested in seeing it: http://stage6.divx.com/user/nickeale...-Leipzig-DVD-1 it is video two or three I believe.

This can be debated more, but to me the entire structure of Guild Wars makes it SEEM like it was intended to be a PvP game. The major tournaments added to that theory.

It doesn't matter now though, as PvE now sells better and Anet is going with it.